I am in Southern Ohio and per my records I sowed Purple Coneflower, Holly Hock, Fox Glove, Delphinium, Shasta Daisy and Sweet William on 2/3/07 and 2/17/07 and they did great.
I also did tomatoes and cosmos on those dates which did not come up.
Glenna

Wow, Lynda, if anyone ever made a simple project sound tough, you just did!

I have a much easier schedule:
1. Sow seeds in winter, except
2. Wait until close to spring (around April) for tender annuals.

Those are my guidelines, and they're served me well for 3 years of wintersowing. Really, don't overthink it. It's a simple process.

I think Trudi, our fearless leader, sows everything in winter, including tender annuals. (I hope I'm not wrong here now that I said that.) I think that's the basic premise. Because a few folks lost early sprouting tender seedlings to late frosts, and they passed on the tip about waiting until spring to sow them, that seems to have snowballed into a tight schedule, like the one you proposed. That's my take on it anyway.

I guarantee you that that tight schedule isn't necessary. Relax and have fun with it!

Karen

What Karen said. Keep it simple.

Simple sounds great. So those odd 70 degree weeks in February don't mess things up?

I must admit I'm still a bit nervous about a major spring thaw, but you all have convinced me to dive up to this point - it really doesn't take much more than a nudge for me to dive in further.

There's only a few more parts of the winter sowing process left for me to freak out over and then I should get to the point where I can sit on the porch, mellow out, smile at my garden, and flood the forum with posie photos. :)

Lynda

Once you do it, you will be fine. Remember, even if there is a warm freaky spell, it won't last long enough to trigger germination. You might lose some tender annuals, but that's about it.

Thanks for the extra info, Bakemom. There's been some nice porch sitting weather now and then in the middle of winter and I wasn't sure whether that would get things germinating.

Good to know that's not very likely. It makes things MUCH simpler. :)

Lynda

That is comforting. I guess more can go out then.

I live in NE Ohio I started my perennials in mid February. I started the tomatoes 3/15 along with the lettuce & herbs, they all turned out fine. The annuals were started on 3/12, in april they started sprouting and if they called for a frost I would cover all the jugs with a blanket, the neighbors thought I was nuts... It was my first year and here I am on year #2 with jugs but no holes!! I guess I better get busy! DH brought a 25 gallon container full of compost to the gargage two weeks ago!!!

I've found that most early sprouters tend to be perennials like rudbeckia, gaillardia, and verbascum, or hardy annuals like poppies, larkspur, or snapdragons. These have survived freezing temps in their milk jugs just fine. I guess these seeds just sprout at lower temps and, by definition, the plants survive these temps, too.

I have had (my first year, 2006) a few tender annuals sprout early (maybe late March, early April) and bite the dust with return of freezing temps. This can be avoid by later sowing, around April for me. Now if I have tender sprouts and freezing temps return I flip the jug top closed and cover with a sheet as shasta did. The sheet holds the jug closed and I don't have to re-tape.

Karen